Dorothy Day, highlighted as one of the four Americans that Pope Francis spoke of in his address to Congress. Her last jailing was in 1973 at the age of 75 while protesting with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. She loved the beauty of the natural world and would seek out the quiet of a small beach cottage she owned on the shore of Staten Island. She went to jail four times from 1955 to 1959 for acts of civil disobedience.

Among US adults overall, more than six-in-ten (64%) express a favorable view of Pope Francis. While this is lower than the high of 70% who gave Francis a favorable rating in February of this year, the share of Americans expressing an unfavorable view of Francis also has ticked down (10% now, compared with 15% in February). Making up for these differences: The share of people who say they cannot rate the pope has increased from 15% earlier this year to 27% now.

There are so many possibilities in the change of seasons ? to see something new, to rethink something familiar, to expand our understanding. The shift of my perception of moth to butterfly pleased me. I saw it anew. Perhaps that's what the seasons really foster, new ways of seeing our usually familiar world.

Sponsored by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), H.R. 3134 would place a one-year moratorium on federal funding for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) unless PPFA and its affiliates certify that they will not perform any abortions or provide funds to entities that perform abortions during that period, except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother. The Pope hails coming to Philadelphia on his US tour and address to Congress.

Researchers estimated that 8 trillion microbeads per day are being emitted into aquatic habitats in the United States ? enough to cover more than 300 tennis courts a day. But the other 99 percent of the microbeads ? another 800 trillion ? end up in sludge from sewage plants, which is often spread over areas of land. Many of those microbeads can then make their way into streams and oceans through runoff but scientists from seven institutions say that nontoxic and biodegradable alternatives exist.

Joan L. Cannon writes: She e-mails me several times a week. Most of them are edited, selected pieces of public information couched so as to elicit immediate fury or panic on the part of the reader. She is honestly afraid of every Muslim who sets foot in this country, or who is already here. She uses her out-of-context evidence with the convictions of a missionary.

The Committee continues to see the risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as nearly balanced but is monitoring developments abroad. Inflation is anticipated to remain near its recent low level in the near term but the Committee expects inflation to rise gradually toward 2 percent over the medium term as the labor market improves further and the transitory effects of declines in energy and import prices dissipate.

"To what extent does policing reflect culture that supports and facilitates a war on women? We review arrest trends for female offenders, discuss police responses to crimes against women, and examine policies and practices that may improve understanding of the criminal justice system's role in this war. We find evidence of changes in police perspectives, actions, and policies toward women as perpetrators and victims of crime."

Ten major vehicle manufacturers have committed to making automatic emergency braking (AEB) a standard feature on all new vehicles built, the US Department of Transportation, its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced last week.

Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffin Collection on display at The Cloisters ? a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages. The collection is named after the mythical creature that was part lion and part eagle. In medieval lore, the griffin was often a guardian of treasure and was known for seeking out gold in rocks — hence its fitting use for this private collection of precious gold rings.

More intensive management of high blood pressure, below a commonly recommended blood pressure target, significantly reduces rates of cardiovascular disease, and lowers risk of death in a group of adults 50 years and older with high blood pressure. This is according to the initial results of a landmark clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health called the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT).

According to the EEOC, charges of age discrimination have risen steadily since the turn of the century, from about 16,000 in 2000 to close to 21,000 in 2014. A senior attorney with AARP said "the number of charges filed with the EEOC is just the tip of the iceberg." Most employers, according to the attorney "are smart enough not to make any sort of comment against the person's age, which would provide the smoking gun piece of evidence. So often, it's really not worth filing a job discrimination claim."

A selection of sites to explore and get lost in: Open Culture, the artsy information hub that features "the best free cultural & educational media on the web" contains reviews and links to hundreds of open educational resources. Whether readers are interested in learning Arabic, would like to hear Patti Smith read Virginia Woolf, or are eager to explore a collection of Gabriel Garcia Marquez stories, Open Culture has something for everyone, including Stephen Colbert reading from Flannery O'Connor.

Over the course of his short but intense working life, Van Gogh studied and depicted nature in all its forms ? from the minutiae of insects and birds' nests to the most sweeping of panoramic landscapes ? creating a body of work that revolutionized the representation of the natural world at the end of the nineteenth century.

"I assume, with your record of zero and sixteen you're bowing out. No more online dating?" asked my (late) mother after, during my imaginary conversation with her, I mentioned that I might check out another dating site. "It is kind of a fun game and my ego is strong enough to take the rejections. "I'm going to check out the Gentiles. Maybe they'll be more open to an adorable grey-haired woman in her mid-seventies." "Try sixty-five and you may have a shot," she said.

Researchers at the University of Missouri College of Human Environmental Sciences studied how different facets of forgiveness affected aging adults' feelings of depression. Researchers found older women who forgave others were less likely to report depressive symptoms regardless of whether they felt unforgiven by others. Older men reported the highest levels of depression when they both forgave others and felt unforgiven by others.

Well-known to collectors and Jane Austen enthusiasts, Irish artist Adam Buck (1759?1833) was one of Regency England's most sought-after portrait painters. He worked in Ireland for twenty years, becoming an accomplished miniaturist; but moved to London in 1795 and immediately gained a roster of star clients including the Duke of York and his scandalous mistress, Mary Anne Clarke.

Julia Sneden reviews: Sacks quotes a letter from a woman whose father was nearly a hundred years old, and had begun to lose his grip on reality. She provided him with a CD player, and when his mind began to wander, she would "put in a beloved piece of classical music, press the 'play' button and watch the transformation". "My father?s world became logical and it became clear. He could follow every note... There was no confusion here, no missteps, no getting lost, and, most amazing, no forgetting..." Dr. Sacks says: "Once one has seen such responses, one knows there is still a self to be called upon, even if music, and only music, can do the calling."

Adrienne G. Cannon writes: Since I am already at home, I can?t have "one for the road" but maybe a cup of tea will soothe me. I drink it slowly and try to compose my thoughts for the new day. I glance out of the window and see other windows that are illuminated. Could it be that I am not alone in my wakeful state? I am cheered by that concept. Insomnia must be universal. Maybe it serves some purpose.

Someone protesting outside the clinic took a photo of the ambulance [transporting a woman with a medical emergency to a local hospital], and Operation Rescue's website reported the incident, though it did not know Alicia's identity. Within weeks, the Nebraska health department subpoenaed Alicia's records from the clinic. Alicia had not complained, but the agency had received a tip, she later learned. "All this happened because I was in the clinic having a legal abortion," she said. "All they cared about was judging me ... and building evidence for their case."

Joan L. Cannon writes: The ubiquitous cameras of our daily lives may is some ways replace some of the older functions of the looking glass, but they don't give rise to the emotional resonances stirred by passing a household fixture or treasure that has seen most of one's years of consciousness. The missing image of a loved one who saw the same reflected surroundings we can still see becomes a nearly visible ghost. There's a forbidding precision in a photograph, precious as it may be. A shared home, visible in reflection behind the viewer is like an echoing chord of familiar music or the faint scent that memory never erases.

There are approximately 2,300 rural hospitals in the US, most of them concentrated in the Midwest and the South. For a variety of reasons, many of them are struggling to survive. In the last five years, Congress has sharply reduced spending on Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly, and the patients at rural hospitals tend to be older than those at urban or suburban ones.

A United Kingdom Study: "Music is a non-invasive, safe, and inexpensive intervention that can be delivered easily and successfully in a hospital setting. We believe that sufficient research has been done to show that music should be available to all patients undergoing operative procedures." They add: "Timing of music does not make much difference to outcomes so can be adapted to the individual clinical setting and medical team."

"As we pushed to find smaller and smaller cancers, and targeted calcifications instead of just masses, we began to identify DCIS more frequently. Now DCIS accounts for approximately 20% to 25% of screen-detected breast cancers. The cells that make up DCIS look like invasive cancer both pathologically and molecularly, and therefore the presumption was made that these lesions were the precursors of cancer and that early removal and treatment would reduce cancer incidence and mortality. However, long-term epidemiology studies have demonstrated that the removal of 50 000 to 60 000 DCIS lesions annually has not been accompanied by a reduction in the incidence of invasive breast cancers."